Today's Free Picks for

8:30 PM EST. The Blackhawks are hot out of the break with five wins in a row but a team that plays so poorly on the defensive end without great goaltending is a team that cannot keep winning. The Blackhawks rank near the bottom of the league in all defensive and goaltending analytics, which puts them in the same range as as the Oilers, Devils, Kings and Sens. Chicago winning five straight is akin to the Sens winning five in a row and it’s very simply not sustainable. Perhaps the best news about Chicago’s five-game winning streak is that Cam Ward has been in net for three of those games and he figures to get the start here. Cam Ward is and has been one of, if not the league’s worst goaltender for at least three years and counting. In fact, dude ranks 67 out of 70 qualified goaltenders in Goals Saved Above Average.

Earlier in the week the Canucks went up against a Philadelphia team that was riding a seven-game win streak. Then, they went up against a struggling Washington Capitals squad. They lost both games by a goal but were not outplayed in either, especially against the surging Flyers, where the Canucks were swarming the entire game. Vancouver rolls out three solid lines in Nikolay Goldobin – Bo Horvat – Brock Boeser, Antoine Roussel – Elias Pettersson – Josh Leivo and Markus Granlund – Brandon Sutter – Jake Virtanen. Even the fourth line of Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle and Tyler Motte can be pesky as hell to play against. Finally, give a big edge to the Canucks in net and throw us a price and we’re more than happy to move in.

Update: Collin Delia is the confirmed starter for the Blackhawks but that doesn’t change our position.

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Our Pick

Vancouver +116 (Risking 2 units - To Win: 2.32)

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